Tue Feb 18, 2025
February 18, 2025

The main struggles of the labor movement in Chile in 2024

By Movimiento Internacional de los Trabajadores

In 2024, important struggles of the working class and the people took place in Chile and around the world. We want to review the main struggles of the labor movement in Chile in 2024, which could continue in 2025 under the unfulfilled promises of the Boric government. In this article, we will highlight the main struggles of the labor movement in 2024, which is at the heart of the country’s economy due to its strategic location in ports, mining, and services. But for revolutionaries, it is also the origin of a new society. Its political evolution depends on it. We will mention the strike in the mines of Escondida, the 56 days of mobilization of the port workers in the port of Coronel, the permanent struggle of the teachers, with the epicenter in the case of the teacher Katherine Yoma in Antofagasta, and finally the national strike of the CUT (Workers’ United Center of Chile) on April 11 and the closure of the steel industry in Huachipato. We could also mention the struggle of high school students against the criminalization of their schools, the struggle of residents for the right to housing, of health workers or food workers, and of Junji or the Mapuche nation for their right to self-determination. But in this article we want to highlight the lessons of some of the most important struggles in the labor movement over the past year.

Chile in the world

First, the waters in which the capitalist governments sail are not calm. New revolutionary processes are emerging at the international level, such as in Bangladesh, or the overthrow of the dictatorship of Bashar Al-Assad in Syria, and in Africa, the uprising in Mozambique, just to mention some of the most relevant and the most intense at the moment. However, the center of the world situation is the Palestinian and Ukrainian resistance. The military action of October 7 has once again focused attention on the resistance against the genocide perpetrated by the Zionist state of Israel more than 70 years ago in collaboration with the big capitalist powers, especially the United States and England. And the Ukrainian resistance against the invasion of Putin’s Russian military power and the plans to divide Ukraine. In general, today’s capitalism and the imperialist powers that run it present themselves as a system of wars, crises and revolutions. How could the global situation affect the struggles of workers around the world in Chile?

In Latin America, after the wave of mobilizations in Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru in 2019, class collaborationist governments like that of Boric in our country or Petro in Colombia came to power. With new faces and promises in favor of the people, they have nevertheless maintained the continuity of political regimes at the service of transnational corporations and the richest families in Latin American countries. Chile, as a country dependent on the export of raw materials, is part of this integrated world system. We see then Chile’s current situation in terms of the enormous revolutionary process that began on October 18, 2019, a pandemic and two failed constituent processes, transitioned to a non-revolutionary situation with important unresolved internal contradictions. The events of the world situation have a direct impact on the small Chilean economy, which is based on the export of raw materials, trade agreements with 63 economies that represent 85 percent of the world’s GDP, that is, a high dependence on the export of copper. The Boric government, like previous coalition governments, is deepening this path of plunder, exploitation, dependency and environmental degradation with its major agreements with the right, through the approval of the TPP11 free trade agreement, the agreement to exploit lithium in private hands in the SQM-Codelco contract, and the liberalization of new mining projects in the hands of transnational corporations, such as the Los Bronces 2 project and Anglo-American. In this characterization of what capitalism is and how it presents itself in Chile, the centrality of the struggles of the workers’ movement emerges.

Another strike in the world’s largest copper mine

On August 13, the workers of the majority union of Minera Escondida (Union No. 1) went on strike as part of their collective bargaining. This time the mobilization lasted three days and important demands were won. It should be noted that Minera Escondida is the largest copper deposit in the world, exploited by the Australian multinational BHP Billiton. It is by far the largest copper mine in the world, controlling 5.4% of the world’s supply of the red metal and accounting for 21% of the country’s copper production. For its part, Union No. 1 brings together more than 2,400 workers at the plant, a high concentration of workers in a Chilean union landscape with low membership. In 2017, the strike lasted more than 44 days, making it the longest strike at a private mining company in the country.

The struggle of the workers at Minera Escondida teaches us important lessons. First, that no matter how big the employer, the strength of workers organized in a single union can beat back any attack.

Second, the need for a powerful strike fund. A single trade union, democratically organized by sovereign assemblies, is a necessity so that the voice of the workers can be heard in every workplace or construction site. The strike or resistance fund is fundamental in preparing for negotiations so workers have access to the basic resources that will allow them to resist and not give in to the pressure of the employers. However, these gains are not permanent and are under constant threat. The Australian transnational company BHP Biliton is promoting a new union (No. 3) to the management, advised by the former regional labor minister in the Piñera government, Alvaro Le Blanc. In order to promote the disaffiliation, it quickly reached an agreement with the new union in December, without a strike, equal to or greater than what had been achieved by the strike of Union No. 1 in August.

Coronel: 56 Days of Struggle in the Port of the Von Appen and Angelini Families

At the end of March and throughout April 2024, the port of Coronel was paralyzed for more than 56 days. It was one of the most important workers’ struggles in recent times. The Eighth Region generates about 6.3% of Chile’s GDP. One of the central aspects of the workers’ struggle has been the recovery of the picket line as a method of maintaining a work stoppage. The dockworkers’ mobilization began as a defensive measure against management’s intention to limit union control over the “nombrada”-a system for assigning shifts to casual workers. The port of Coronel belongs to one of the economic groups of the 10 richest families that plunder the country. The Arauco group, controlled by the Angelini family (from the forestry and maritime sector), together with Neltume Ports, belonging to the Von Appen group, share ownership of the port through Ultramar and the Belfi construction company, owned by the Elgueta family. The Port of Coronel has the highest regional export turnover – in 2023 it exceeded US$3 billion – shipped to the most diverse countries in the world, while in the same period the ports of San Vicente and Lirquén were around US$1.8 and US$1.4 billion, respectively. This strike was an attack on the heart of the union stronghold and takes place in the context of other struggles in the ports. A few days earlier, the workers of Puerto Barquito de Chañaral had mobilized, as well as the union of Puerto ITI in Iquique and the strike of the Medlog union in the port of San Antonio. The port sector was fundamental in the struggle for the general strike of November 15, 2019. In turn, it maintained its banners of struggle in the midst of the pandemic, with strikes promoted by the port union in favor of withdrawals from pension funds that would help support working people during the pandemic.

Its strategic importance is due to the fact that the forestry, fishing and fruit industries, among others, are one of the pillars of Chilean capitalism (along with mining). For this model of plundering the country by imperialism and ten wealthy families, the port infrastructure, which includes seven commercial ports, is strategic. Four of them – Coronel, Lirquén, San Vicente and Talcahuano – are general cargo ports and three are specialized. There are also four private industrial ports: Terminal Marítimo ENAP, Muelle CAP, Terminal Oxiquim and Terminal Abastible. After 56 days on the picket line, the struggle ended with a little-known agreement. The truth is that the employers were not satisfied and insisted on criminalizing the mobilization of the dockworkers with lawsuits. They accused them of forming an “illegal block” in the port. For the workers, this discussion is central to the fact that it is the workers themselves who decide their methods of struggle, and we do not subordinate them exclusively to what the laws say we can or cannot do. The Chilean labor law, known as the “Labor Code,” which was born in the dictatorship and then created by the governments of the consensual democracy, is a consequence of what the big Chilean employers want us to do. The Labor Code does not contemplate or promote grassroots assemblies, revocable spokespersons, solidarity strikes, resistance funds and picketing. This was the struggle of the port workers of Coronel. The picket line is a historical method of the workers’ movement, used in certain circumstances to complement or guarantee the paralysis of production.

Mass Mobilization of Teachers for Katherine Yoma

On March 24, 2024, more than 10,000 people marched in Antofagasta in response to the case of teacher Katherine Yoma Valdivia, who committed suicide on March 7 after denouncing harassment, threats, and attacks she received from a student and her family members at the José Papic D-68 School. Faced with these events, the teacher filed complaints with the Antofagasta Municipal Department of Social Development and the administration of School D-68, which did not offer her any support. This situation was repeated, causing Katherine’s mental health to deteriorate and she dramatically ended her life on March 7. The strike and the mobilization were the response to the apathy of educational authorities. Thousands of teachers, education workers, and students took to the streets in a regional strike in Antofagasta, which later became a national teachers’ strike. However, the situation of poor working conditions, stress and violence in the workplace is deeply linked to the policies of budget cuts in education. In order to increase profits in companies or schools, more work is done with fewer tools or resources. This structural situation has not been resolved by the reaction of the Parliament in approving the Karin Law of the government and the right, since it only facilitates the mechanisms of individual denunciation, but under the same institutions as always under the regulations of companies or schools and security organizations. Therefore, new cases and among teachers cannot be excluded.

The national strike of the CUT on April 11

On April 11, as a result of its Thirteenth Congress, the CUT decided to call a national strike in response to the economic policies of the government, which is being ruled by the same parties (the PS-PC) to which the leaders of the union belong. However, despite little or no preparation for the strike, a large march took place in Santiago and regional cities on April 11, much larger than planned in which there was strong criticism of the Boric government. The rank and file workers showed that they were willing to respond to the call for mobilization and that they felt that their problem was not only with the “right”. For the PS-PC leadership, however, the problem is that the government is not moving forward with reforms because it would fall victim to the right-wing opposition in parliament. “This social demonstration opens the way to a new political scenario from which the social movement will emerge to fight the obstructionism of the economic right and to make the government understand that it must fulfill its program,” said David Acuña, president of the CUT. The truth is that this is contradicts wuth reality: with 210 bills, the first two years of the Boric government has seen the most bills passed in its first years since the return to democracy. The agreements with the right include: the security agenda, labor laws, the pro-growth agenda, an end to permissive policies, etc. In other words, Boric governs by making big agreements with the right, and what the workers have to fight against is a regime in favor of the 10 big families, which includes the government itself and the right.

For this reason, the leadership of the PS-PC does not try to organize national strikes for continuity or to foment the struggle from the base, but rather as demonstrations of force to move quickly into the halls of collaboration with the government, to support the policies of agreements in parliament, such as the minimum wage, or labor laws such as the Karim Law. A political trade union alternative is needed. Although the CUT’s membership base is currently in the so-called “public sector” and services, no other alternative union of any weight for the workers’ movement has emerged in the country. It is therefore the duty of revolutionaries to confront the policies of the reformist parties by participating in the main unions where the working class is concentrated. On the contrary, the small unions or “alternative” confederations including the Red and Black (Rojas-Negras) and MIR (Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria) abstain from CUT actions, even when they call for strikes, because the fact that the union is led by reformist parties. This strategy is an obstacle to organizing the rank and file in the emergence of a strong opposition current. In this way, by leading critical sectors into small parallel unions, they facilitate the leadership of the PS-PC in the union.

The closure of the Huachipato steel plant

Finally, we would like to mention the struggle against the closure of the Huachipato steel plant. On Wednesday, March 20, the CAP Group announced the indefinite closure of the Huachipato steel mill in Talcahuano, of which it is the majority shareholder. The indefinite closure is another step towards the total and definitive closure of the company, which had been announced for a maximum period of 3 months. The response was a mobilization of Huachipato workers along with other sectors in the region. There was talk of a regional strike through the “Mesa de Defensa del Empleo y la Industria del Bío-Bio” (Bío-Bio Employment and Industry Defense Committee), which brings together the region’s industrial unions, such as port, commercial and public sector unions. However, this path was not taken. Instead, the government opted for dialog committees and promises. For his part, the Minister of Economy in the Boric government, Nicolás Grau, traveled to the region and declared that “nationalization is impossible and that it is a decision for a private company. It should be noted that this is the same government that closed Codelco’s Ventanas smelter. What has been the result of this path in trusting a “dialogue” between the company and the regime? The definitive closure of the steel mill and unemployment in the region. Initially, temporary palliative measures were obtained, such as the temporary agreement on April 20 by the Anti-Distortion Commission, a technocratic body that regulates the “market,” to increase the surcharge on steel bars by 24.9% for Chinese bars and 33.5% for conventional bars. But management had made its decision to close the plant. The unions took no further industrial action and a redundancy plan was agreed. The regional strike did not take place as the closure affected the entire region.

On August 7, CAP’s board of directors announced that the surcharges were not enough for “financial viability,” which is nothing more than maintaining high profit rates for the CAP group. The final closure came in September, leaving thousands of workers and their families without stability. In the Bío-Bío region, more than 22,000 workers depend directly or indirectly on the company. On the other hand, more recently, in December, the CAP Group announced the acquisition of 10.2% of Aclara Resources, a mining company involved in rare earth extraction and processing projects in the Penco hills. The capitalists put their particular interests of profit above the interests of the population as a whole. The union’s policy of relying on “dialogue” was a major defeat for the workers of the industry in a country that has been undergoing a process of deindustrialization since the time of the dictatorship. The so-called “Plan for the Promotion of Regional Industry” presented by Minister Grau and the large industrial employers of the region promises new results like those of Huachipato: profits for the capitalists and poverty for the workers. The organizations of the “Employment Defense Table” must break their collaboration with the government and the employers and resume a list of workers’ demands.

Outlook for 2025

As we warned in a note taking stock of the revolution diverted five years after October 18, 2019, in Chile, “(…) the general strike of November 12, 2019 was not an artificial product, but an accumulation of experiences and the expression of a historical need to make the weight of the proletariat as a whole feel” (1). And that at the heart of the workers’ current situation, “We recognize that the bourgeoisie has imposed its objectives of diverting the revolutionary process, preserving the old regime of the agreed transition, its parties and its central policy of consensus, but not inflicting a physical defeat on the workers’ movement and the so-called social movements. Therefore, we maintain that the revolution has been diverted. And in this context, from the combination of objective elements of the crisis, new mass struggles and revolutionary crises will arise in varying degrees in the country in the coming period” (2). In this post-October 18 political context, in the third year of the government of Gabriel Boric and the CP, in 2024 we find important new mobilizations in strategic and service sectors. The fact that they are still sectoral, partial struggles does not prevent us from recognizing their relevance.

This is fundamental, given the current central policy of a large part of the left in Chile, around the Communist Party in the government (or outside the government), which maintains that, after the defeat of the plebiscite on the new constitution of the first constituent process, a situation of a supposedly “reactionary” nature has opened up. Therefore, the policy of the government and the CP would be to adapt to this new scenario, in which the gradualism of reforms and pacts with the right would be the only realistic policy. In other words, the masses would be responsible for the attacks they are receiving, not the capitalists and their governments who run the country. The lack of coverage in the mainstream media is also no accident. There is a political selectivity in the agenda and the relevant issues that are discussed. Priority is given to “security”, “growth” and the policy of agreements as the bourgeois response to the revolutionary crisis that the country began experiencing in 2019. These struggles appear little or not at all in the media, but this is also true on the left. However, in spite of all these campaigns, pensions, wages, education and health continue to be issues that come up in the national debate. This is mainly due to the struggles of workers’ organizations.

In this regard, far from this defeatist view of the mass movement, we want to emphasize that in 2024 in Chile struggles are developing in strategic sectors of the economy, of course they are partial processes and they do not yet signify a situation of open struggle. But it is the duty of the revolutionaries to accompany each struggle and each lesson of workers’ mobilization, presenting a program of action that allows the unity of the most advanced sectors of the working class with revolutionary militancy. The partial struggles are a preparation for the new great class confrontations. But we cannot lead these future confrontations with political leaderships at the service of making deals with the 10 big families and the transnationals. It is necessary to build a new revolutionary party of the working class. The FA, PS and PC show that they do not represent the interests of the workers. On the other hand, the “alternative” and “ecological” left projects outside the government, which speak out against capitalism, are not based on the strategic sectors of the economy or the workers.

From the International Workers’ Movement, the Chilean section of the IWL, through our forces, we have intervened in each of the processes of struggle in 2024, presenting a program that starts from the immediate needs of the struggle, such as the fulfillment of the trade union demands, to go beyond the sectoral framework of these struggles and achieve a single set of demands, democratically discussed at the grassroots level of the main trade union organizations of the country. We have supported a single list of demands that begins with putting an end to the high cost of living and the attacks on wages, fighting for an increase in the minimum wage to 700,000 pesos, with automatic adjustment to inflation for all workers in the country. We also demand the freezing of prices that affect the working class immediately on the most basic goods and services, such as food, rent, the UF, transportation and electricity, gas and water bills. In addition, we support the approval of the 7th Popular Emergency Withdrawal and the immediate end to the AFPs, with the right to a 100% withdrawal. We say no to the pension reform agreed upon by the government and the right wing. We are for an emergency plan to build quality housing to end the housing shortage now. The state must create a public construction company, under the control of the workers, to create thousands of jobs and end the housing shortage. To finance all these measures, we must nationalize every company that shuts down, nationalize copper and lithium and put them under the control of the workers and their communities, among other basic measures.

-MIT Executive Committee

Sources

  1.  https://www.vozdelostrabajadores.cl/chile-a-5-anos-del-18-de-octubre-la-revolucion-desviada.
  2.  Idem.


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